Poltergeist
by ShadeWarrior
Summary: Naru and the Crew get a visit from an odd family and recruited to help them with spiritual activity in their home but not everything seems to be what it should. Join the crew in their newest adventure and see where Poltergeist leads them. Loosely based off the 2015 movie Poltergeist I own nothing.
1. And So It Began Again

Mai slid into the office one cold wintery Wednesday, nearly toppling onto the carpet when she slid in a water puddle from Yasuhara's snow boots off to the side of the entrance. Her startled yelp snapped Monk's attention from a video on Yasu's phone to her righting herself. The smile that eclipsed his face as he threw himself at her visually eased some of the cloud of apprehension from her shoulders that seemed to be rising the more she was in the office.

"My little Mai-Chan!" Mai was near immediately engulfed in the strong hug that lifted her up to her toes and then off her feet completely before monk swung her around in several circles. "I've missed you! It's been so~ long since Naru has taken a significant enough case for me to be there with you! You just keep taking Masako or John and Lin along with you." His pout could be heard in his voice, even if she couldn't see his face as he continued to swing her around.

"Monk, put my assistant down so she can do her job." Came a voice from the doorway near where Monk had spun them too.

Monk swallowed heavily before nearly dropping Mai in his rush to do as he was told. Mai stumbled woozily backwards from the sudden stop in spinning and was barely able to focus on Monk stretching out a worried hand in her direction before she stumbled and began to fall.

A pair of surprisingly strong arms caught Mai, one hand in her lower back the other catching her arm. Her face immediately flushed when she realized how intimate the position felt to her with the body behind her so near to her hip. She looked up over her shoulder pink cheeked and stared at Naru momentarily.

"Are you alright, Mai?" His voice was ever so slightly softer than normal.

"I ah yeah. Yeah, I'm fine. Just slightly dizzy from Monk's spinning." He righted her after a moment and gave her a slight push towards the kitchenette before turning back to his office.

He seemed to her like he had gained a bit of humanity once Gene had been found and buried. It was only Naru, Lin and herself that was still aware of Gene still being her spirit guide and the three of them wanted to keep it that way. It seemed almost like, to her, that the small secret between them tied them ever so slightly tighter together than the others.

"And Mai?" She made a garbled 'hmm' sound, looking back at him. "Tea."

She made a huffing noise before laughing softly. "Tea addicted jerk." Her voice was a halfhearted complaint. "Would either of you like som…" Her voice drifted off as her attention snapped to the closed door.

"Mai? What's wr…" Yasu was interrupted when the door opened to reveal a haggard looking couple and their two children.

The three in the seating area immediately snapped into action- Monk grabbing the door to close while Mai and Yasu helped the near collapse adults to a seat. "Would either of you like a nice cup of tea while we get our boss?" Mai's voice was soft on the new-comers ears.

"Yes please." The woman's voice sounded scratchy and raw as she spoke.

"Yasu, can you get Naru and Lin to come out while I make the tea?"

"Can do, lil' boss." He immediately set off to the offices while Mai headed to the kitchen and Monk motioned for the two children to take a seat on the couch beside their parents.

By the time Mai finished the tea, loaded it on a tray and carried it out, Naru had just sat down with his black notebook and Lin was pulling up a document on his laptop to take notes. She stepped up to the table in front of Naru and bent to place the tray on the table, collecting one specific cup out of the eclectic collection and dribbled just a splash of milk and the tiniest shake of sugar into the cup before turning slightly and handing Naru the tea. His smirk fell on her a moment before he lifted the cup to his lips and taking a drink.

Once the tea was passed out and doctored up per taste, Mai sat down between Monk and Yasu and looked the family of four over. The parents, she noticed had large bags under their eyes from a varying degree of sleepless nights, while their son- possibly Mai's age- had a lesser version and their daughter seemed completely unfazed. The little girl had a small stuff blue mouse she was mumbling to while she sat in her bothers lap and as Mai looked the doll over from opposite couches, she shivered uncomfortably.

Naru's voice broke her out of her avid staring at the doll. "What can we do for you…?" He let the end of his sentence hang so the family could introduce themselves.

"Oh I am terribly sorry!" The woman's voice seemed back to its normal octave, now that she had drank some of the tea. "My name is Amy Bowen and this is my husband Sam and our kids Griffin and Madison. We heard from the papers that you all are able to rid places of the…the spiritualistic tendency…" She drug her sentence out, unsure of how to phrase her words.

"What, may I ask has been happening?" Naru's voice was his normal stiff monotone.

"We had been looking for a house to buy even though Sam had been laid off and our current home had come upon the market and it was in our price range so we immediately snatched it up. It was everything that we wanted; multiple bedrooms, large living room and kitchen, a basement, attic, even a spacious yard."

Sam then spoke up. "It seemed odd to me that such a nice home was in our price range. A five bedroom in our range? Not likely. Unless there was some fixing that needed done. The house looked flawless. We just assumed the previous owner had a family emergency and had to move as quickly as possible. It wasn't until about a week after we moved in that the noises started. Scratching noises in the walls, hollow footsteps, tapping, knocking, nothing too unexplainable except the house shifting I thought. That was until Griffin found this dumb waiter full of clown dolls of all sizes and years. Some had gears in them to talk and laugh others had pull strings. Some of the clowns were porcelain and others were just cloth and stuffing. We immediately boxed the clowns up, Griffin insisted on a lock, and we put them back in the dumbwaiter and closed the door over it."

"I even covered the door with a heavy chair." Amy pipped back in. "I had this bad feeling about it. After that it calmed back down for a few weeks then one night the kitchen cabinets started open and close sporadically."

Madison interrupted her mother. "They were making you music mommy! They just wanted to have fun."

"We honestly still ignored it until we found Madison talking to the closet and sometimes she would grab the door handle to it and her hair would stick up." Sam said softly. "We don't know what to do. Please can you help us?"

Mai's eyes swiveled between Naru and the family before settling on the doll again. As she stared at the toy, Madison's arms wrapped around it tighter snapping Mai out of her staring. She forcefully shifted her eyes back to Naru, who she realized was staring at her out of the corner of his eye with a slight raise to his brow.

"We will take the case. Please leave your details with my assistant, Mai. We should be able to make it to your home within the next forty eight hours. We will need three rooms for our use; one our base and two to sleep in." Amy and Sam nodded quickly before standing to walk with Mai to her desk for their details.

As they turned to head out, Madison having skipped up to them happily, they turned to Griffin's form still on the couch. Amy frowned as she realized he was avidly watching Mai, while she sat seemingly oblivious to the stare as she switched between typing at her desktop computer and looking over files. After several tense moments, Griffin noticed his parents staring and stood to leave with them.

After the family finally left Mai let out a heavy breath and let her shoulders relax. Her eyes closed softly for a moment as she took a deep breath before opening them and continued on her work. Yasu raised a brow at her behavior before looking to Naru for direction. As Naru began to open his mouth to speak, Lin stood and made his way over to Mai's desk, laying a calm hand on her shoulder.

She gasped quietly and spun around. "Oh, Lin, you frightened me!" She nearly hissed out as she clutched her chest. "Is everything alright?"

"I could ask you the same thing." His voice is soft, nearly a murmur, as he leans on her desk and crosses his arms.

"Should something be wrong?" She asks before turning back to the papers on her desk, tracing a finger down the lines until she found the one she needed.

"You seemed nervous with that family near."

"There was just something…off…about them. Like a bad aura clung to them or something. Makes me nervous." Her eyes never left the page as she red through the next part.

"We will keep an eye out." Lin murmured before standing, reaching up and squeezing her shoulder before stepping away to get his laptop and go to his office.

There was a moment of silence before Naru spoke up. "Mai." Her finger paused on the line she was on before lifting her head and focusing her eyes on him. "Tea." He then smirked, stood and walked to his office.

"Tea addict." She smiled softly before walking to make the tea. "Yasu," Her voice echoed out of the kitchen. "Are you going to be able to make it to this case?"

HE stood up and leaned on the counter to the kitchen to watch her make the tea. "I dunno. You gonna dress like that the whole time?" He asked with a raised brow.

She looked at her outfit and frowned. "What's wrong with what I have on?"

"It's not particularly professional Mai." Monk chimed in. "That short of a skirt, even with leggings, and a low cut shirt."

Yasu waggled his brows. "Trying to hit on big boss now?"

Mai's face went crimson. "I just grabbed stuff this morning!" She yelped out.

"Oh I'll come if you want me to Mai." Yasu said snickering.

"Yasu!" Mai nearly screeched. "Stop it! I didn't deliberately plan it."

"Yasu." Came a voice, echoing out of Naru's office. "Stop pestering my assistant and do your job like you're supposed to be doing."

"You are no fun big boss!" He called out before heading to Mai's desk to get the address of the new case. "I'll go do research now. In the cold." He looked at Naru's door. "All alone."

"Yasu." Naru's voice was anything but amused.

He held his hands up in a placating fashion. "Alright, alright, I'm going. See you later Mai." HE quickly slipped his shoes on and scurried out the door.

Mai chuckled softly before stacking all the tea on a tray and headed for Naru's office. She nudged the cracked door fully open before slipping in and closing it behind her with her foot. It had become commonplace for her and Naru to spend several hours in the midafternoon in his office discussing her and his powers and cases. She slipped the tray onto the corner of his desk before fixing up the tea to his preference and setting it beside him before making her own. Once her tea was made, Mai slid into the more comfy of the two seats opposite Naru's desk, kicking her flats off and tucking her legs into the chair as well.

One Naru finished typing whatever was on his computer, he grabbed his tea and looked up at the girl across from him. "What do you sense from the family?"

"Straight to business then." She mumbled. "The parents seem normal, I guess. Very stressed and worried over their children. The girl seems to think everything that's happening is just fun and games."

"And the son?" His voice was curious as he sipped at his tea.

"He seems…wary? I can't get a good read on him."

"Do you think he caused it?"

"No. He's much too scared for that. I think he's just terrified for his family. And being that age, he probably assumes he has to protect his mother and sister even more."

Naru nodded. "And that toy? You kept staring at it."

"I don't know. It's weird. There's just this vibe it gives off yet no vive either. I don't know how to explain it. Almost like it's a neutral space in the middle of a battle of positive and negative space."

Naru rubbed his chin in thought. "Be careful on this case Mai. Even I have an odd feeling about it."

"You know I always _try_ to be careful. It's not my fault I'm a ghost magnet."

He smirked slightly. "We're working on that."

"And until we do get it down, I'm a liability Naru. We both know it. MY aura is too bright for them to ignore. Even with Gene trying to tamp it down, it's still too bright until I get it under control."

"It'll be fine, Mai. Call everyone and let them know to be here by eleven tomorrow. Pack for several days and I expect you here early to help pack the van." She nodded softly before putting her feet down and slipping her shoes back on. "And Mai?" Naru's eyes flicked up from his computer screen. "Do not believe yourself to be a burden." He then went back to typing on his computer and she took it as a dismissal.

She left his office and made her way to her desk, making her calls before going back to her work. After taking several slow breaths she began rereading her papers, mumbling about what was to come.

Hey everyone! This is my first Ghost Hunt fic so I hope it'll go well! I've written several fics for several fandoms and even read a lot of GH fics so of course I had to try it for myself. Let's try and see together if this shoe fits! Let me know what you think of the intro here! Until next time! ~ShadeWarrior


	2. The Trip

Hello all! Thank you for taking time and reading my fic! I do know that everyone seems a bit ooc but try to deal with me some, yeah? Cheers to you all! Most of this is the filler leading to when they reach the Bowen home and some background stuff. Here's chapter two for your pleasure! _**I own nothing except minor plot points**_. Enjoy!

Also I want to dedicate this to _**Tiffo-san**_ firstly, and also to my first reviewer **D C JoKeR H S**

It was barely five thirty when Mai rolled out of bed that blustery Thursday morning. Her morning routine had changed drastically since Naru and Lin had returned from their stint in England. Although overall Naru had spent almost three years in England, he had made call upon call to train Mai when Gene had reached out to him when she had a panic attack over hurting Monk.

Lin had periodically come to visit to train her hands-on until Martin could be convinced to allow Naru to return to JSPR. It had been a long grueling process but Mai felt stronger from it and a bigger sense of accomplishment, having made it through. She yawned and stretched out her sleepy muscles before standing to do her morning jog.

He black jogging pants clung to her thighs as she jogged up a hill on a hiking path twenty minutes later and before long another path came up in an intersection and they continued up the mountain. As she neared the intersection, she saw a head of blond hair crest over the hillside coming towards her. A small smile eclipsed her lips as she slowed her job to wait on the other jogger.

"You're running a bit late today, John." She commented chuckling as the blond reached her and they continued up the mountain.

"Setting up for morning prayer with the kids took longer than normal."

"They all love you there, John. The kids absolutely adore your personality."

"Na, mate. They kept asking about you." She looked at him quickly as she hopped over a fallen branch. "They're all asking when 'Miss Mai' is coming back to play with them." He chuckled softly, pulling ahead of her in her moment of confusion.

"I scared half those kids when I first started coming."

"You didn't have control of yourself, Mai. They all love you now, 'specially after you set those fireworks off on new years." He halfheartedly glared at her, gaining a chuckle from Mai.

"The kids wanted some fun. How could you say no to those little chubby cheeks?"

Before long they crested the last of the mountain and reached the peak to watch as the sun kissed the town down in the valley. They stayed up on the mountain in comfortable silence for several long minutes before Mai took a deep breath and turned to John.

"You know, I really appreciate you coming jogging with me in the mornings. You make things a lot more fun."

John turned to her and smiled softly. "It reminds me of being back home. I'm glad to have a running partner also." He glanced at his watch. "We should probably begin heading back. Kazuya did ask you to help pack the van, didn't he?"

Mai chuckled. "You mean make him a lot of tea to go while we're on the road. It is a four hour drive to the family home." She did a few stretches again before they turned back towards the path. "Did you just want to swing by my place to take a shower and head to work? You do have a spare set of clothes still in the hall closet."

John shook his head softly. "I need to grab my pack anyway but thanks. Come on, the sooner Kazuya gets his tea the sooner he won't be in such a horrid mood."

Mai chuckled as they started down the mountain. "You make it sound like Naru isn't always in a bad mood."

"HE isn't always." John defended. "He cheers up when you're around him."

Mai's cheeks pinked immediately and she picked up her pace. "It's because I have tea." She huffed.

John just shook his head and let the topic drop. He smiled at his friend's oblivious nature but picked up his pace enough to come back side by side with Mai. It wasn't every day that he could escape the church to come jogging with Mai but he knew she still went without him.

By a quarter to eight Mai had reached her apartment and by eight thirty she had showered, put on fresh clothes and packed the last of her toiletries before heading out the door to walk to work. The whole way to work in the chilly breeze, a small smile resided on her lips and lifted her steps ever so slightly.

As soon as she stepped into the office and sat her bag down, Naru's shout of 'tea' echoed across the small office. She huffed good naturedly before turning to the kitchen. She shouted to Lin as well to see if he wanted tea also as she sat the kettle on the stove, hearing an affirmative from the other man.

Once the tea was done, she walked the first cup to Lins office, slipping in silently and placing the cup on the desk before turning to creep back out. The man's head lifted and he turned his chair around to look at her. He made a mildly impressed face.

"I did not expect you to have made it to the desk yet. You're doing much better." Mai smiled brightly before leaving his office and grabbing Naru and her cups of tea.

She nudged the door open with her foot before slipping in and shutting it behind her. A small content smile lit up her face as she saw Naru rifling through her notes on what she had felt about the Bowen Family. The only sound in the room was the tiny clinking of china on the desk as she sat his cup down.

He lifted his head and nodded to her. "Where, from this interview, did you get that the son has an unhealthy obsession with you?"

"I don't know. Gut feeling?" Mai mumbled out, sitting down in the chair she claimed her own.

"You know you can't always trust your gut, Mai. It may be right a good majority of the time but there _are_ times that it is _not_."

"I know that, Naru." He nearly hissed back to him. "I have a strong gut feeling about this one."

"I understand, but you need to understand where I'm coming from too. We can't just leap into everything just because your gut tells you to. You know what happened the last big time you were wrong, Mai."

"Of course I know, Naru!" She snarled out. "I very nearly caused Monk his life! Don't think for one second I have let myself forget that." She stood harshly and stumbled slightly.

Before she could even fully react to how weak her legs felt from her jog, a soft warm hand was wrapped around her arm steadying her. Naru stood leaning over his desk, the spare hand lay flat on the desk bracing him as he held onto Mai's arm.

"Have you eaten?" He very nearly demanded, her response was a shrug. "You know your sugar levels can drop after physical exercise, Mai. Go eat something from the kitchen as we load the van." He let her go, grabbed his cup, drained it and scooped the notes and his computer together before sliding them into his bag and handing it to her. "Eat, then make a pot of tea to go and collect together the last of the stuff you need for the trip."

He left the room nearly as fast as Mai could blink. "Tea addict." She mumbled before doing as she was expected.

By ten fifty, the van was packed and Monks car filled with all the luggage. All that was left was for Masako to get a hint and climb into Monks car so Naru, Lin and Mai could climb into the van to leave but she seemed to have a bit of a fit of having to ride with the flirtatious Yasu. Nearly ten minutes of Masako's demands, Mai finally conceded and followed Monk to his car, knowing Naru's murderous gaze was on her back.

Monk's chuckle followed Mai as she clambered into the back of the car with John and Yasu, already making jokes and talking about things to waste their four hours on. Monk smiled softly as he glanced at the ever increasing frustrated look on Naru's face before clambering into his car and starting it.

Three hours, fifty seven minutes, and sixteen seconds after they got on the road, they stopped on the side of the road in front of the Bowen house. Naru wasn't counting long long it had been since Masako was not clinging to him. He hadn't counted at all. He was just wasting time.

As soon as the vehicles stopped, everyone began to clamber out of the two vehicles. Mai went to step out of the car but froze as soon as her booted foot caressed the frozen grass. The sharp intake of breath from Masako led the others to tell something was wrong.

"IT's so dark here. They don't know where the light is anymore." Masako mumbled.

"Grab some equipment and come on." Naru demanded, already heading towards the house, a standing light in each hand.

Mai closed her eyes momentarily and when she opened her eyes, the entire house seemed to be surrounded briefly by a sickly green yellow haze before disappearing just as fast as it came. She sighed softly, lifting a camera in each hand before following the others inside to set up.

This is where I'm leaving it today everyone! Let me know what you think! I'll update soon as I can. I was no lie, falling asleep as I wrote this, like I swear several lines was asleep typing bc I knew what I wanted it to say. Let me know what you think!


	3. Arrival and Day 1

Hey everyone! Sorry I haven't updated in about two months. Bad me Bad. I did post a poll on my profile about the story. _**I'd love to hear opinions on it and the story**_. This chapter will probably cover the first day or two. All in all, I'm expecting them to spend around a week in the Bowen home.

I do know that in the 2015 movie, the Bowens have three kids but that's just too many people for me to keep track of. Five Bowens, Mai, Naru, Lin, Monk, Ayako, Yasu, John, Masako…that's Thirteen. Much too many for me lol. Anyway, after much ado, here is Chapter three. I still own nothing sadly.

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Amy met the team at the door, looking as haggard as she had the day before. Her smile was full of relief as she swung the door wide for the troop as they marched in with equipment, Masako sweeping past Mai in the doorway with a small bag of cords and wires delicately clutched in her hands. "If you follow me, I can show you to the main room for you to set up. It's Sam's office so I think it should have enough space and plugs for you." Naru only nodded in agreement to Amy, the team following along.

Naru lead the team behind Amy with Lin and Monk behind him then Yasu, Ayako, John, Masako, and bringing up the tail Mai. As they turned a corner at the top of the stairs, a door opened and Griffin walked out unaware of the troop marching by. He ran smack into Mai, who stumbled to the top of the stairs behind her, and precariously balancing for a second. There was a clattering sound and before Mai could fully react, there were two hands on her-one on either arm- and a hand slung around her lower back.

She looked up from the arm she had naturally clutched back and saw Naru looking at her with a slight worried tint to his expressionless gaze. After a second of looking Naru in the eye, he nodded ever so slightly and her gaze switched to the other hand on her arm and the one on her back. There stood Griffin, close to her body and looking down at her from almost Naru's height.

"I'm very sorry to have run into you, Mai. I didn't realize you all were here already." His voice was soft, his face close to her own. "Are you alright?"

"I'm fine, thank you." She mumbled out, semi embarrassed.

"I would appreciate if you removed your hands from my assistant." Naru's voice broke the two from their odd staring contest.

A very slight smirk eclipsed Griffins lips for the blink of an eye before letting go of Mai's arm but leaving the one on her back. "I do apologize, Kazuya-san." He maneuvered Mai in front of him as he took one of the cameras from her.

Naru's eyes thinned slightly before he stepped past the 'boy´ bumping his shoulder roughly before making it back to the front of the group to pick his dropped standing lights. He motioned for Amy to continue the way to the room. He didn't wait for the others to stop gaping before continuing down the hall. Mai followed along, absolutely clueless with what had just happened between the two males.

Once the room was reached, Naru blandly dismissed their hosts and began giving instruction to his team. "Monk, John, Yasuhara unload the rest of the van." His back was to the whole team as he and Lin began unpacking the laptops the other man had grabbed. "Ayako, Masako do a walkthrough and see what you feel. John help Lin set up base and Mai," He turned around and his eyes landed on Griffin, who had yet to step much further from Mai since they'd reached base.

Even from the distance Naru was at, he could see the slight discomfort from his assistant of the unknown male being so close to her. He saw the slightest nod from her, her signal of permission, and began walking toward the door of base.

"With me, Mai."

He neared the door when a voice spoke up behind him. "Then I'll come with." If he weren't so stoic, Naru would have rolled his eyes.

"It's part of procedure, Griffin." Naru turned around and crossed his arms, waiting to see how Mai would handle the boy. "It's part of my ability for the team."

"Then I'll watch. Come on then." He made to move with her.

She took a deep breath. "Griffin, what I'm trying to say, erm you see…" She drifted off, afraid to be blunt with the client's son.

"What she's trying to say, is you're in the way." Masako spoke up before walking by with Ayako and out the door.

He raised a brow at the brunette beside his elbow who shrugged noncommittally. "That was a bit harsher than I would have liked…" Mai mumbled before scurrying over to her boss' side.

Naru opened the door for her before following her out with a momentary glare sent to the other boy. When he stepped out of the door, Mai was standing just out of eyesight waiting on him. A small smirk eclipsed his lips before he began leading the way down the hall.

After a few moments of silence Mai spoke up. "So, Naru, where _are_ we going?"

"We will find our way to the kitchen, you will make me tea and we will talk about the case."

Mai groaned slightly. "Can't we talk about anything else while everything is set up? Then we could talk the case with everyone there."

"Would you rather talk about your upcoming love life with our clients' son?" The teasing smirk he only used with her came into view but with a slightly dark tinge.

"Naru, you have the absolute worst sense of humor. "Mai went to continue speaking as they rounded a corner at the bottom of the stairs to the living room but stopped to frown at the scene in front of them.

Naru looked from his view of Mai to what had her attention and frowned. There in the middle of the otherwise empty living room stood Maddie with her hands pressed fiercely against the flat screen tvs surface. His frowned increased when Mai set a delicate hand on his own before slowly stepping forward towards the young girl. He stood watching from the doorway as Mai moved in a slow but consistent line towards the young girl.

"Maddie, sweetie, what are you doing?" Mai left her voice just as soft as her footsteps, nearly silent.

Maddie looked over her shoulder and smiled at the petite brunette. "They just wanted to play a game with me." By the time the small girl had finished speaking, Mai reached her and eased her hands off the screen, only to watched with bated breath as the screen went from a normal static to a loud wailing then flickered several times and finally went black.

She swallowed and looked at Naru, her hands still on Maddie's wrist. "Maddie, "She croaked slightly before clearing her throat and trying again. "Maddie why don't you go and find your brother and convince him to play outside with you?"

"Okay!" The girl bounced out of Mai's grip, out the door and they heard her at the steps as she tried to skip up them.

"Naru, what was that? Is it normal for a little girl to interact like that with whatever is here?" She fully turned towards him.

He stepped up to her and placed a hand on her shoulder before stepping past her. "Nothing like I've seen. We will have to wait and see what's going on to make proper theories. Come along."

She caught up with him in a few steps and before long they were turning another corner and going into the kitchen. After a minute or two of searching the cabinets, she found the teapot and tea. It didn't take her skilled hands long to have the kettle filled and on the eye to boil. As they waited, Mai leaned against the counter, crossed her arms and faced Naru with a serious expression.

"Do we have a way to keep the Bowens safe if this thing is already acting up? We can't send them to a hotel yet in case this entity is only responding to them but we can't leave them defenseless if the entity is vicious. It's already almost four and the sun will set here in a couple hours and if they are already acting in front of us that means they may not be afraid of our new presences."

Naru raised a brow, leaned against the opposite counter while propping one foot behind him slightly and crossed his arms. "Then tell me what you think we should be doing?"

"Are you honestly asking my opinion or testing me again whether I know the right option."

His smirk resurfaced. "I'll let you decide that one on your own."

"Well…" She trailed off before reaching up with one hand and grasped her chin slightly in a thinking pose reminiscent of her boss. "I would have Ayako make a charm for each of them." He nodded for her to continue past her nervous tone. "And I would have John go ahead and try blessing one of them while Monk blesses another to see if either process works better than the other. I would also put a camera in the living room, hallway and both of the children's rooms."

"Not the parents?" Naru asked, seemingly curious.

"They haven't experienced anything in their room and so it's safe to assume that it isn't a hot spot in the home. I would also place one in the kitchen and out back just in case."

"You would rather be careful of the back yard but not the parents room?" He quizzed as the kettle started to whistle.

Mai began answering slowly as she pulled out cups for everyone. "I just have a feeling that there's going to be something in the case to do with out there." She thumbed towards the window facing the back yard.

"You know what I've been saying about gut instinct Mai. Sometimes fear makes it react when it doesn't need to."

Her head sunk slightly. "I know."

"You did have good ideas. An experiment in the supernatural with live subjects." His smirk widened. "I never thought I would impact you enough for experimentation."

She rolled her eyes as she stacked the cups on the tray she had found. "It's not an experiment…per se…It's covering several options to ensure a well-rounded defense."

There was a laugh from the door way after she spoke. "Wow Mai, Big Boss really is rubbing off on you. You even sound like him."

Mai flushed slightly before shoving past him and headed for the base. The two males glanced at each other, both with different smirks on their faces before turning and following the fiery brunette. Yasu elbowed Naru slightly to get his attention.

"So what is the plan big boss?"

"You will know once we return to base. Has everything been finished?"

Yasu smiled before speaking. "Nope. I was heading back out for another load but I was curious where you and our impressionable fiery clutz went."

"Yasuhara!" Mai screeched out in a snarl. "I have a name. And I am not that clumsy!"

"Of course you aren't." His voice was sarcastic as he branched off from them to head back towards the front door.

"Jeez! I am not that clumsy or hot headed!"

"It really is quite unwise to blatantly speak lies, Mai." Her head snapped around to him beside her and glared at the near ever present smirk. "Come on. Like you said. We have a lot to do and not much time to prepare for the night."

They returned to base before long and was originally supposed to be a tea break turned into a break for dinner. After the break Mai jumped into helping set everything up in base while Ayako began making her intricate charms. By six all that was left was to set up the multitude of cameras in whatever places Naru dictated.

"Mai, Monk I want you to take cameras and set them up in the kitchen, living room and downstairs hall- one facing the stairs and one facing the full hall from the other end. Masako and Yasuhara one in each bedroom of the family, and the same in the hall. When you are done, both groups will be taking temperatures of their assigned floor. Lin will be your go between to make sure the cameras are set right. When you return, Monk and John you will be blessing one of the parents each. Ayako will be giving each child a charm to help keep them safe."

"Why are we not blessing and charming each one?" Monk asked confused.

"Mai?" Naru asked, allowing her to explain.

"We don't know if the spirits will react differently to either of you or Ayako's charms so we are going to see what will be the best with them since they already interacted with Maddie since we've been here." She then went on to tell them about what had happened in the living room when her and Naru had gone through.

"I guess that makes sense." Monk admitted. "It's covering all available bases too."

"Now that you have finished questioning everything, get to work. Sunset is in less than an hour and with the homes placement, it will get dark fast. I want everyone back together as soon as possible. We are not sure yet what this entity truly is."

"Entities." Masako spoke up. "There are so many here. Too many to count." Naru raised a brow and turned to Mai who only shrugged.

"To work everyone, then we may speak of all this."

Everyone headed off with haste, not wanting to anger their young boss. After leaving the base behind the two groups split from each other and began their trek with the bulky equipment. Mai and monk headed down the stairs and immediately headed for the furthest room from base, the kitchen.

"Monk, do you think whatever this is can be stopped? If Masako says there is so many, how can we stop them all?" The older man turned to her, tapping her lightly on the nose before responding and leaned against the counter.

"Faith, Mai. We all have to have faith in each other to be a solid front. Even if that old tree hag just writes on papers."

"Monk I really don't think you sho…" Mai had held a hand up but didn't get it out in time.

"I heard that you useless Monk!" Came squawking out of the walkie on the mans hip.

He spluttered slightly, flushed and confused. "How…?"

Mai giggled softly before reaching around the man and plucking the walkie off his hip. "You should really be careful where you lean Monk." She handed it back to him before setting the bag she was carrying down and pulling out a camera tripod out of it. "Ask Naru if he wants more tea when we're done. The water can be boiled by the time we finish setting up the cameras in the hall."

She grabbed one of the cameras from the mans arms and settled it on the tripod before turning it on then began attaching wires. In the background as she got everything set up, she heard him talking to Naru over the walkie. After a few short sentences and then grumbles from monk, she heard Lin's voice speak up.

"To the right some Mai." She turned the camera a hair with a distracted hand while the other was untangling a sensory microphone cord. "Much better. Set infrared to 86 and the motion sensor to 27." She clicked a few buttons on the camera before expertly unraveling the cord, with confident hands, to the mic across the floor and taping it to the underside of the kitchen island.

"Three tape strips should do, Monk." She commented as she finished strapping the mic to the counter and tapping it slightly.

"How many times do I have to tell you not to do that, Mai." Was the snarl that echoed in the room from the walkie in Monks hand.

"Oh, about seven thousand more, Naru." Her voice was sarcastic as she spoke to Monk.

"We _can_ hear you."

"I know." She smiled at the camera sweetly before heading to the stove. "Large tea coming up."

Before long the water was on the stove heating and the two were in the next room repeating the action after taking the temperature. Several jokes were thrown around as the duo set the equipment up and several vaguely snide comments were flung at two of the three still in base. Once the cameras in the hall were done, Mai headed back toward the kitchen for the whistling kettle and a large thermos she had found in one cabinet.

Monk was finishing the last minute tweaks in the hall as Mai began to head back, the tea in the liter size thermos, mumbling about where things like those could be bought. She flashed the waiting man a smile as she neared before all of a sudden her smile dropped. He frowned at her sudden attitude change and as he opened his mouth, he was made speechless.

Mai stood there, chills racing down her arms as the hair on her head began to stand on end all of a sudden. She stood still as her shirt ruffled in a sudden breeze and before she could react the shirt began fluttering one way before it looked like a hand was fisted in it and she was yanked across the hall into the wall at the base of the stairs, missing the camera there by a few strands of still static filled hair. Her breath was blasted out of her in a wave before she dropped to the floor and her hair fell around her face.

"Mai!" Monk yelped out and rushed to her side.

"I'm good I'm good Monk." She shoved the thermos in his hands before pushing herself up to stand, brushing herself off and tucking the hair in her face behind her ear. "I'm fine Monk." She rolled one shoulder then the other, earning a couple pops before pulling the thermos from the stunned man. "Let's get the temps from here and head back."

He nodded, flabbergasted, before holding the electronic thermometer up. As he took the final temperature, she reached up with her free hand and rubbed at the back of her shoulder lightly. Once they were done they headed back to base where Ayako nearly leapt on her.

"It's fine Ayako. Nothing broken, nothing dislocated." Before Ayako could respond, a yelp came through the cameras from Masako and everyone's attention spun to the camera her and Yasu had just set up.

"Yasuhara! Naru is going to be furious at you!" Her voice was a soft snarl as everyone looked on from the sideways angle of the camera, a slight crack in the upper corner.

Naru held the walkie in his hand, a tight near shaking clutch. "Get your job done and get back to base." The words were spat out in fury.

Not even two minutes later after the final licks of light faded from the window did Masako and Yasu come back into back with stilted steps. They hovered slightly in the doorway until Naru waved them roughly in. The others scurried back to avoid the young mans' temper.

"What happened." There was no question to it.

"Well I was finishing setting up the camera and…"

"He put it up all in my way while I was getting the temperature and made me bump into it!" Masako nearly demanded.

"I put it in the corner. You tripped over the cord you put down." Yasu defended.

Naru lifted a hand, silencing them before rubbing at the bridge of his nose. "We will wait a bit until the blessings are done and then some of us will go out and double check the camera." Mai reached forward silently and sat a cup of tea in front of him, which he nearly snatched right from her fingers and drained half of it in one go. "I want Monk and John to go together to bless the parents and while they are distracted, Masako and Ayako will go to the childrens' rooms, give each child a charm and place one under either their pillow or on their desk. Yasuhara I want you to start looking up the history of the home."

"If I may, big boss, can I leave for the expanses of the time for the research since not much has been fruitful with just searching online?" Naru nodded. "I'll call a cab then. Can Mai come with me too?" He asked, flirtatiously slinging an arm around Mai's shoulders.

She held back a wince at the weight of the other boys arm on her. "No." Naru's face was blank as always but a small spark of anger seemed to line his features lightly. "Call the cab. I want an expansive history given to me by two tomorrow afternoon."

"Yes sir, Big boss sir!" Yasu said before flipping his phone open and stepping away from the others.

It took much longer than expected to convince the parents of the blessings to be done on them, even longer to do them and by the time ten thirty rolled around, John and Monk were exhausted. The parents had gone straight to tucking Maddie in and telling Griffin to head to bed too after the team finished with them. Not much longer, after the last dregs of Mai's tea was finished Monk, Ayako, and John headed to bed leaving Mai, Naru, Lin, and Masako in base.

"Can you tell how many spirits there are yet?" Naru aimed the question at Masako as he skimmed the measly report he had so far in the case.

"No. They all seem sad and hurt. Some don't know they're dead and the ones that do, seem borderline furious. I don't know, can't tell what they want from the family."

Naru made a stiff 'hmm' noise in the back of his throat before walking to the monitors' and glancing at them over Lin's shoulder. "Nothing?"

"Not since the stairs." Came Lin's quiet response.

He sat back down and pulled out his black notebook to skim over notes. All the while, Mai sat at the small coffee table doing her school homework, oblivious of the conversation happening around her. It wasn't much later that Masako stood and bade her good nights to everyone before heading out to go to bed.

"Mai." Naru's commanding tone broke through Mai's whirling thoughts of math, making her head snap up and slowly focus on his face. "With me. We are going to check the camera Yasuhara and Masako dropped." She stood hastily and followed him to the door. "Keep an eye out, Lin." The other man nodded as his eyes stayed on the screen he was looking at.

The walk down the hall was silent, neither of the two of them felt the need to speak. Once the camera came into view, Naru grabbed the walkie and informed Lin they would be turning all the components off to double check each piece for any faulty parts or loose pieces. A quick confirmation was received from the silent man and Naru made quick work of turning everything off. He then turned and leaned on the wall, propping a foot up and crossing his arms.

"Are we not checking everything?" Mai asked, befuddled.

"It's all fine. I could tell from base." His voice was bland and vaguely mocking.

"Then why did we turn it all off?" She was still fully confused.

"I wanted to see your back where you hit the wall earlier. You've been rubbing at it subconsciously off and on since you returned." His steely eyes bore into her own with determination.

"Why didn't you say that while we were on base?"

"Do you really want Lin to see you strip down?"

Her cheeks flushed immediately and she stuttered slightly. "I don't _have_ to strip!"

He rubbed the bridge of his nose softly. "Just turn around Mai." She gulped nervously but did as she was told, it wasn't frequent he would willingly touch someone like that.

After a moment she heard Naru step away from the wall and grab the collar of her t-shirt and pull it over to begin analyzing her shoulder. He made a small 'hmm' sound before grabbing the bottom edge of her shirt and pulling it upwards suddenly. Mai yelped and pulled the shirt the other way.

"What are you doing?" She practically screeched in embarrassment.

"I have told you once, Mai. I do not like to repeat myself."

"I, but, why are you going this way?"

"It will be easier to see with your shirt out of the way."

She looked over her shoulder, her face still flaming. "Then let me move it."

He sighed and let go, tapping a foot irritated. She reached back and pulled her shirt up and over her shoulders but kept her front well covered from the man behind her. She stayed facing away with her face flaming and hidden in the folds of her shirt. There was a hiss that escaped her lips when Narus fingers danced over her right shoulder blade.

"You landed a lot more solidly than I expected." His voice was soft and tickled the back of her neck. "Your shoulder will feel stiff for several days."

"How bad is it?" Her voice was still smothered in the fabric of her shirt but he heard.

There was a shuffling noise, silence then a clicking noise before Naru's hand appeared in front of her face with his phone. There on the screen was a shot of her back, a heavy black and blue-ing bruise smattered across her right shoulder blade and across to her spine. She studied it quizzically, nibbling at her lip softly before speaking up.

"What is that?" She held her shirt securely one handed and pointed at the screen at her bra line where a dark spot was.

Another hmm erupted from Naru's lips as he studied the picture then stuffed the phone back in his pocket after locking it and turned to her back. She felt him lift her bra slightly before she felt the whole thing loosen. He had just unclipped it.

"Naru!" Her voice was a mixture of a yelp and a screech.

He ignored her, running his fingers across her spine where the bra had just been sitting. "The clasp for your bra cut your back. What you saw was dried blood. You will want to keep it off at least tomorrow. You have a decent cut where it was resting." She heard shuffling again then a tearing noise before something cold touched her back before she felt the sting on the cut. "I'm cleaning it." Was his response to her intake of breath. "I can put gauze over it but it will either fall off with movement or the tape will make you itch with its location." She heard him stuff the wipe in his pocket before something else was pulled out of his pocket and she heard a popping noise. "I grabbed a bruise cream." She could swear he was reading her mind. "While you were doing your school work."

She chuckled lightly as he softly rubbed the cream generously across her bruise. "I swear sometimes you can read my mind, Naru." Her voice was full of good humor.

"Your mind is just simple." She could _hear_ the smirk on his lips.

"And then you say things like that to ruin the moment."

"The was a moment?" There seemed to be a hint of confusion in his voice.

"Naru we are standing in a hall, my shirt is barely covering me, you have my bra undone, touching my back. There is a moment. Albeit weird, it is a moment."

"Ah." Was his only response before capping the cream again and then began applying a temporary gauze pad to her back. "I do still recommend you leave it off tomorrow." His voice was again soft as he eased her bra over the gauze and clipping it back and laying it as lightly as possible on the bandage. "You can put your shirt down now." He turned and began to set the camera back up and check for damage to give her privacy to readjust herself.

"Is the camera still in working order?" She asked after a moment, stepping over to his side.

"Yes. The crack will be a frustration only."

"That's good, I guess. Still not happy with them though?"

He smirked down at her. "Am I ever?"

"Ever what? Happy? No. Happy with Masako? Not often. Happy with Yasu? Only when he gives you a good report." She responded with a chuckle as she began turning everything back on and snatching the walkie from where he had it clipped to his pocket. "Hey Lin, feed coming in alright?"

"Fine. Nothing different besides position."

After receiving confirmation from Lin, the two headed back to base. Once they got back, it was decided that Lin would take first shift of watch then Monk the middle shift and Naru the final shift. Mai had mumbled a 'poor monk' at the mans luck to get mid shift before bidding her good nights to the two men.

NAru stepped out after her. "I will be heading to bed too." He explained to her raised brow.

They walked to their rooms and bid one another a final good night before heading into the rooms and getting ready for bed. It took Mai more time than she would have liked to change clothes with the stiffness in her shoulder but as the clocks began striking midnight she was alright falling asleep.

LIINEBREAKLINEBREAKBREANLINEANDSTUFFWORDSO|WORDS

So I'm going to end this here since it was starting to get long. I'm sorry for having a two month gap between posting the last chapter and this one. I hope you like it! Let me know what you think or ideas or comments or concerns or a hello. I love you all! Have a great one and until next time,

Shade Warrior


	4. Landscapes, Seascapes and Escapes Day 2

Hey again everyone! I wanted to try to get started on this right after I posted chapter three so hopefully you all don't have to wait two months again for a chapter. I do want to say a huge thank you for the support, **Akai Seirei**! Here is to hoping it is thrilling enough to keep you coming back for more even if Naru is a bit out of character but c'mon the cute with Mai. Who can say no to their cuteness? Anyway without further ado, let the chapter commence.

LINEBREAKLINEBREAKHEREISALINEBREAKENJOYITENJOOOOOYYY

 _Mai knew she was dreaming. Everything around her was black but a gray haze had begun to fill the void she was in. She hovered for a bit, unsure what was up or down, when all of a sudden she had the feeling she was falling. Before she could get very nervous, she landed solidly on a ground of sorts. She was in the Bowen home but everything was backlit by darkness and everything seemed made of muted gray colors. All around here still lingered with the hazy mist._

 _All of a sudden she felt a hand touch her unbruised shoulder and she jumped as she spun around. "Gene." She gasped out, clutching her chest. "What's going on? Why is Maddie with you?" She had noticed the small girl clinging to Gene's hand._

 _"They have noticed both of you, Mai. You have to be careful. I'm keeping them from fully attaching to her but there is so many, it's hard to cover you both."_

 _"How long do you think you can keep it up for?"_

 _He shrugged. "Couple days at most. You have to tell Noll to hurry up." He reached out and pulled Mai to his side, a hand firmly on her shoulder this time._

 _"What are y…" He cut her off._

 _"Hush now." He nodded his head where disfigured spirit bodies began appearing all around them, a combination of negative colors and blurred forms. Some moved in jolted patterns while others grazed the floor in sleek glides._

 _All the spirits seemed to be searching for something, hunting for whatever it was. Several spirits passed mere inches from the trio, the two females shaking against the hold Gene had on them. He slowly backed them away from the main room and when he finally got them out front, spoke again._

 _"They are looking for the light around the two of you. Maddie for her youthful innocence and you for your talent. They won't stop until they find it or are gone. Be careful Mai. Very careful. Wake up now." He turned to the small girl tapping her on the forehead with a smile and she disappeared. "Please Mai, promise me you'll be careful." He turned to her with a stiff face._

 _"I'll do my best Gene." Her voice was soft as he tapped her too on the forehead._

Mai woke with a gasp, trembling softly. Her shoulder ached something fierce and was stiff but at least she had news. She shot out of bed and dressed as quickly as possible with an oversized sweater before power walking to base and going in.

Everyone looked up from what they were doing at her sudden entrance and several let out relieved breaths. "Mai!" Monk leapt up and hugged her eliciting a gasp pf pain.

"Put her down." Everyone turned at the sharp no nonsense voice that broke the happy cheers of Monk who immediately put the small girl down.

"Thank you, Lin." Mai smiled brightly at the stiff shouldered man before making eye contact for a prolonged moment with Naru.

"Now that everyone is awake, we will start the day. Monk, Matsuzaki-san go through and take temperatures of the downstairs, John and Masako upstairs. Lin mind the cameras." Everyone stood around for a moment at the sudden commands. "I don't pay you to stand aro…" He reached into his pocket all of a sudden and pulled out a sleek black phone before hitting the answer and speaker buttons. "You are on speaker Yasuhara."

"Hey big boss, lil boss, everyone! I'm gonna be a bit longer than expected. My aunt was brought to the hospital last night and I am going with my family to see her. No one will give us any information over the phone yet."

"Oh Yasu!" Mai mumbled softly, her fingers clasped together over her mouth.

"Nono! Lil Boss, don't you be worrying your pretty lil head on me. It'll end up well. I'll come back and update you so no worries."

"Yasuhara." Naru growled softly, inducing an audible gulp through the phone. "Be careful of yourself."

"Awwh! You do care!" Mai's giggles echoed around the room. "That's what we like to hear, Mai. Everybody loves that giggle." Her giggle stopped immediately to be replaced with an embarrassed flush across her cheeks. "I'll do my best to get everything together as fast as possible. Gotta go now my parents are here to get me."

Everyone called their goodbyes and well wishes before Naru hung the phone up, glaring at the phone, slipping it in his pocket. "Get going." He snapped and everyone made a mad dash to leave the room, Masako leaving last as dignified as possible in the situation.

Mai looked at Naru over her shoulder, a half smile impishly kissing her lips as the door finally shut behind the others. Lin's chuckle broke through the moment lightly before she grabbed a chair and drug it over to the main table to sit near the two men. She curled up in the chair in a bit of a ball before motioning Naru to sit.

"I had a dream last night." Naru sat quickly before snapping out his black notepad and staring at her, expectantly. "Gene showed up." Naru stared at her with a 'is that all' look. "With Maddie beside him." She went on to describe in as much detail as possible the whole dream, trying to reiterate how creepy it had been.

Once she was done telling her dream, Naru immediate began rereading his notes before pulling his thinking pose. Nothing seemed to be making sense to Mai and even with the extra training she had had from the two men with her, something didn't seem to add up right. She turned to Lin, who had typed everything she said down verbatim and decided to question him while Naru thought.

"Have you seen anything like this before, Lin?"

He shook his head with a soft frown. "No. This is nothing like what I have seen before. You have been targeted before by spirits and so have other young females under our care." A but hung in the air for several moments as he collected his thoughts. "but the way you described the spirits is nothing I have experienced before." He settled his hand over hers, where it was wrapped around her pulled up legs. "You must be careful. We will keep as well of an eye on both of you as possible."

It wasn't much later that everyone else appeared along with Mrs. Bowen announcing breakfast was ready. It wasn't until the afternoon that Naru decided a new approach. Once lunch was eaten, another round of temperatures taken and cameras checked for any other issues, besides the cracked one, he began barking orders again.

"Mai, Lin and I will be going out back to get readings. I want John with us too. The rest of you man base, walk the inside, and track any anomalies."

"There is no cameras out there." Monk pointed out.

"We will not be able to see what you are doing." Was that a tinge of envy in Masako's voice as she spoke?

"You will be busy otherwise. Quit dawdling." He stood, grabbing his black coat and led the small troop to the door.

Mai walked alongside John, bouncing theories quietly off each other as they went down the stairs and out the back door of the house. Out back of the house was a tarp covered in ground pool- having yet to be drained- a large weeping willow at the corner of the house and a mostly bare yard except for the fencing, partly dead flower bushes and a child's playground. The whole yard seemed desolate to Mai as they began their wander of it.

"Mai, anything?" Naru's voice made her pull back to herself immediately.

"I, uh…it's desolate." She nodded. "Desolate is the first thing that comes to me. Desolate and…" She tilted her head slightly as a small breeze made her shiver. Desolate and weary in a frustrated way." She walked past the three men and continued through the yard and stopped near the far corner of the pool, slowly turning and facing the house.

The breeze seemed to pick up some and her red oversize sweater began fluttering around her body as she reached a hand up to push her hair out of her face. She was really happy to have thought to wear jeans and not leggings with the sweater that morning as she shivered slightly. As she stared at the house, Mai realized she was staring at Maddie's bedroom window. The more she stared, the more it seemed something was flickering past the girls window behind the shades repeatedly.

"Naru," Her voice was soft but carried over the breeze well enough for the taller to hear her. "Come see this."

The three men walked to her and stopped behind her to look up at the window. The foursome stood for several minutes just watching the shadows flicker in the little girls room. Mai was the first to speak up and break the confused silence.

"She's not in there is she?"

"No." Lin's voice was monotone but reassured Mari none the less. "She is out with her mother."

"Oh." She breathed out relieved before feeling something heavy fall across her shoulders. Behind her, she could hear john asking Lin a question about what they had seen.

She looked at her shoulders, reaching up and touching the cloth to realize it was Naru's coat. Her face showed confusion as she looked up to the stoic man nearly beside her. He smirked down at her fer several seconds before speaking.

"You are cold." It was a statement, not a question.

"How do you…?" Before she could finish, Naru glanced down at her chest.

Her eyes followed the other mans gaze and yelped lightly before tugging his coat closer around her upper body. The scarlet that had infused her cheeks continued to grow as his smirk got bigger. He slowly raked his eyes up from her chest to stare her in the eyes, raising one fine brow in question.

A small cough from lin behind them made Mai jump and spin around clumsily. In her haste to turn around and look at the other smirking man, she tripped over her own feet and tumbled into John who threw his arms up quickly to catch her awkwardly. When he finished stopping her fall, one of his tanned hands lay grasping her left breast. He immediately flushed bright red, realizing immediately that she had no bra on. Mai jumped backwards off of him and stumbled back first into Naru, who easily stopped her flailing with a solid hand on her hip.

"I am so sorry, Mai-chan!" John began repeating with a deep red infused in his cheeks. " I did not mean to grab you there! I was just…!" He turned his head away, highly embarrassed and had even reverted to the affixed '-chan' to her name.

"It's fine john, really!" Her cheeks were nearly as red as she peeled herself away from Naru.

She was clutching the coat closed around her, the red not leaving her cheeks anywhere near as fast as she was wishing it to. Lin ruffled her hair amused before looking to his ward. They made eye contact, smirked at one another then turned to look at Mai.

"Do you guys have to keep doing that weird 'talking through a look' thing?" Mai grumbled, crossing her arms tightly over the coat.

Lin's deep chuckle reverberated through his chest. "You will understand one day." Before they could continue, the was a rumbling growl from the side of the yard near the back door of the house.

John had ignored the three of them to stare at the dog slowly approaching the group. It's greying brown fur was matted and grimy from having spent many a night in the weather, one of it's ears looked mangled from previous fights and its ribs seemed to be sticking out prominently from its sides. The growl it let loose again sounded feral and vicious. He swallowed loudly and went to step backwards but only elicited another deep growl.

"Naru?" His voice was a mere whisper. "This dog seems in no mood for games."

"Stay still, John, and don't show any fear. Stand up straight and keep a stiff eye." He slowly straightened light Naru said, but made one fatal mistake.

As John finished standing tall and straightening his shoulders, he made eye contact with the dog. The beast was immediately in motion after just a split second of contact and was streaking towards them at an incredible pace. Mai made a startled yelp, stepping backwards fearfully. Before any of them could move anywhere, the dog leapt into the air and collided with Naru. The startled young man only had enough time to pull an arm up in front of him to block the dogs snapping jaws from closing on his throat. Instead he had his forearm in the animals mouth, letting out a disconcerted grunted yell.

Naru stumbled backwards towards the pool trying to tear the dog from his arm. Just as his foot skimmed over thin air and he began toppling backwards into the pool, the dog unlatched it's broken toothed jaw from his arm and leapt back. A loud stuttered splash echoed across the yard as Naru sank into the water with the pool cover tangling around his limbs.

Mai's sharp gasp made Lin get into motion. She laid Naru's coat on the ground as the dog began pacing a mere handful of feet from them. A deep breath stuttered into her lungs before she spoke quickly.

"Lin, I need you and John to take care of the dog. I'll help Naru. I'd be no use otherwise." And before Lin could even argue with her reasoning, Mai pulled something out of her pocket that glimmered in the sunlight, spun taking a deep breath of air and dove gracefully into the water.

Mai swam quickly to the struggling, bleeding, man and flipped open the knife in her hand. She grabbed a handful of the cover and began slicing it open from the tangle around his slowing body. The burn in her bruised shoulder from the swimming was making black spots cloud the edge of her vision as she used her right arm to cut through more and more. It wasn't much longer before she had a hole big enough to help Naru pull his tangled body through and loop the hurt arm over her shoulder. They kicked as fast and strong as they could in the water towards the surface.

It wasn't very long before they broke the surface amd clung to one another while gasping in air. When their senses came back to them, Mai realized they were in the middle of the pool with the cover in a tangled heap finishing settling at the bottom of the pool with the sinker attachments to hold it still wrapped around it in a mess. The distance to the edge of the pool was about seven feet on either side of them and so they picked the side closer to the house to begin swimming.

Lin was off to their left, further into the yard, with several of his shiki attacking the dog while John stood nervously by. When he realized Mai and Naru were nearing the edge of the pool her rushed to the side they were nearing. A few strokes into the swim, Naru noticed his assistant was slowing in her strokes and faltering in the kicking of her feet. Several more strokes and about two feet to go, Mai's grip on his wounded arms wrist around her neck loosened drastically and she began slipping under water.

"Mai!" Johns shout came a moment after Naru's realization that she had passed out.

He grabbed her bodily and swung her slowly to his back and put her arms over his shoulders. With his bad arm he grabbed her wrists and continued swimming with the other. A trail of blood was drifting behind the two of them from his arm.

"Let me help." John's worried voice broke through Naru's clouded mind. "If you hand me her arms, I can pull her out."

Naru did just that and helped by pushing at her legs with his good arm until John had her fully out of the water. He then turned and with a stunning feat of strength Naru didn't know the aussie has, pulled him too out of the water. After pulling Naru out, John spun back to Mai to make sure she was still breathing and let out a breath of relief.

As Naru yanked his shirt off and wrapped it tightly around his arm, Lin finally knocked the dog unconscious. He returned to the others with a small gash down one forearm and a couple scratches across his stomach and on his cheek. His attention was immediately on his charge, who had just finished wrapped his shirt and tying it on his forearm.

"Lin, take care of the dog. John grab the doors." He swiftly knelt down and scooped the unconscious girls body in his arms and winced along with her as he stood up. "We need to be headed in." Neither of the other men moved. "Now."

"Noll, why don't you let m…"

The younger man's eyes flashed dangerously as he turned to Lin. "I am fine. She's like this because of my mistake. I am taking responsibility of it."

"Of all the times to listen to her about taking responsibility when you act human…" Lin grumbled out while heading to the dog to take it off the fenced property.

As soon as Naru and John reached base, Ayako went into doctor mode. She began with Mai thinking it was only the girl that was hurt. Once she checked for concussions and water in her lungs, the unconscious girl was given an all clear.

"She must have just over strained herself and her body shut down." Ayako said softly before noticing a patch of blood on the girls shirt. "Did she get cut?" She asked turning to Naru and John.

Naru only shook his head but John decided to speak up, ignoring the glare the young boss sent his way. "Naru is bleeding." He rushed it out quickly, wincing at the rush and flinched away from the intensified glare as Lin walked into the room.

It took Ayako and Lin arguing with the young man several minutes before he finally allowed the woman to look at his arm. Unknown to the arguing trio, Masako had moved closer to Naru. When the fight finally died down she decided to speak up in an attempted sensual soft voice.

"Naru, you must let Ayako help you. What if the mongrel had rabies?" She lifted a dainty hand and laid it flat on his toned chest. "Or if you don't want her looking at it, I can take care of you." A soft snort echoed in the silent room from the monitors, Masako sent a quick glare. "Let me help you, Oliver." Her voice dropped to a deeper level.

Naru had a near blatant look of revulsion on his face, making Monk howl with laughter, Ayako to snort and John to smile awkwardly. "If you don't mind." Naru almost snarled out grabbing Masakos wrist with two fingers and dropped it away from him. "Walk the building again. With John and Monk. Now." The biting snarl was even more forceful and Masako left with an embarrassed flush on her face while the other two scrambled after her.

Several hours passed and eventually Naru sent the others to dinner, politely asking Mrs. Bowen to send three meals up for him and his two assistants. The room was silent as NAru read over the notes and temperatures from the case and Lin was typing up a report of progress for Martin. There was a slight shifting noise from behind the two men and before they could fully turn Mai had shot up in a sitting position, then yelped in pain and clutched her right shoulder roughly.

Naru was beside her in moments. "Stop moving so fast, idiot. You put heavy strain on your trapezius muscle and made the bruising worse. I'll need to look at it later on." He helped ease her into a sitting position with the least amount of pressure on her poor shoulder.

"Who changed my clothes?" She looked nervous.

"Ayako only took your sweater off you."

"Oh, okay. How's your arm?" She looked worriedly at him.

He lifted it up for her inspection, a crisp white bandage wrapped from his wrist to elbow. She delicately reached up and grazed her fingers very lightly over the wrap, brows furrowed in worry. After a couple moments of watching, Naru reached up with his good hand and put it on top of hers and spoke softly.

"I will be fine now, thanks to you." There was the slightest lilt of amusement in his voice as he let a tiny smile flutter to his lips. "You did well today, Mai. You kept a, mostly, level head and helped me out of a difficult situation." She flushed brightly.

"For once I was the one saving your butt." Her smile eclipsed her face at such a blinding speed.

"Don't get used to it." He said stiffly, turning away from her giggles.

The others returned to hear the end of Mai's giggles and most of them smiled at the small brunette as they walked in. "How are you feeling Mai?" Ayako asked, shifting into doctor mode.

"I'm fine, Ayako. Just sore and all. A few days of rest after this case and I'll be right as rain again." She chirped happily to alleviate the others worry.

"That's good, Mai." Monk was smiling at the girl before ruffling her hair.

"Has anything else happened since I was out?" Her voice was soft but curious.

"There have been a few temperature spikes in Maddie's room, the camera in her room went fuzzy once for only a split second." Lin spoke up from the monitors.

"What about any other room? The living room?"

"There was some static on the tv when it was being watched earlier and one singe temperature drop when the family got home." Monk spoke up.

Mai adopted Naru's thinking pose. " I think we're missing an important piece of this puzzle."

"Let us hope that Yasuhara has something to tell us soon." Ayako said, huffing. "This place is creeping me out."

"Every place creeps you out, y'old woman." Monk butted in.

"What did you call me, stupid monk!"

"Old Hag!"

Mai saighed and rolled her eyes, seeing Mrs. Bowen slip in with a tray laden with sandwiches and soups for her, Naru, and Lin. She thanked the woman after standing and moving to one of the desks near the monitors to eat. The other two men also thanked the woman before she went back out the door, having not killed the raging argument at all.

A few hours later, since there were no more instances, Naru decided to make everyone call it a night. He informed everyone to leave in pairs then called for Mai to go to the monitors with Lin while he left the base. The others wished the remaining two a good night before heading out themselves.

Mai looked to Lin after everyone left. "Why do I feel like he is going after that portable burner I saw in the kitchen?" The other man chuckled before they lapsed in silence.

Naru came back not much later with said piece of machinery. He set it up on the edge of the table, not far from where Mai had been sitting for the last several hours. His smirk made her frown and roll her eyes.

"Now you have no need to be leaving base alone to do your job." She rolled her eyes again. "I would like to look at your back again."

Mai saighed before standing up slowly, turned the computer chair she had been sitting in around and sat straddling it backwards to cover her endowments a bit better. After adjusting the seat just right, she tried to reach behind herself and pull up the tanktop she had on but hissed loudly when she tried to move her arm.

"Stop moving, idiot." Naru stepped up behind her and slowly, as to not make her jump, pulled her shirt up where she could hold it at the base of her neck.

Lin glaned over and made a hissing noise through his teeth. "That is going to hurt for a while."

"Kinda figured. When do I not get hurt bad though?" She said, trying to lighten the mood, hissing herself when Naru's cold fingers ran lightly across the edge of the bruising. "We just covered that it hurts, Naru."

"I am barely touching you." His gaze was focused on her sore shoulder. "You caused some severe damage trying to swim with it already bruised as bad as it was. The bruising has worsened and the muscle is inflamed. The best processes to do is Arnica rubs and cold compresses for now. You are to not use the arm as much as possible until the case is over." His voice was stiff as he dug through a medical bag he had brought over at some point. "I am going to rub the Arnica on your shoulder. It will be cold and it will cause discomfort. Try to sit still until I have it rubbed in." His voice seemed to soften the longer he spoke.

Lin rolled his chair over and grabbed one of her hands lightly in his before nodding to Naru. Before Mai could prepare herself something cold touched her back and she flinced, hissing loudly. Naru had begun to dab the lotion like substance on her shoulder.

"Cant you warm it in your hand first?" She hissed out through her teeth.

After several tense minutes, Naru finished rubbing as lightly as he could and sat the lotion down. "Let it air dry and then you can put your shirt down." By the time that the lotion was fully dried on her skin, Mai had drifted asleep with her head resting on the back of the chair, delicately balanced on it upright.

The two awake men smiled at the sleeping woman before looking at one another. "I'm going to lay her down on the couch." Naru said softly, scooping her as carefully as he could into his arms.

Just as softly as he had picked her up, Naru eased Mai down on the couch. He shifted her shirt down over the majority of her back before slipping a throw blanket over her and headed back to the monitors. Both men periodically glanced at the sleeping occupant throughout the next hour before Lin send Naru to bed, promising if Mai woke he would wake the young man and to wake monk for the middle shift at the monitors. With the promise Naru threw one last glance at Mai before heading to the mens room to sleep.

LINEBREAKYEPLINEBREAK

Hey everyone. Here is where I'm going to end chapter four. PLEASE let me know what you think. It truly helps me out. Next chapter we get into the plot again and Griffin comes back in. Dear clueless Mai gets some eye openers and we might just learn something new! Until next time!

ShadeWarrior


	5. Bumps, Bruises, Scrapes and Scares Day 3

Hello everyone! I'm starting on chapter five and im about to post chapter four! (total lie. This is like a good 6-8 months later) I appreciate all the help and reviews and support you've given me! You guys are great! I am adding a few small touches to the Ghost Hunt crew to fit the story. Like Mai's allergy. I have not ready anywhere that she's allergic to anything but I needed something. So yeah. I still own nothing. So without further ado, since I don't know what to say, on to the story! P.s. Auguste clowns are terrifying. They are the ones with a base paint of pink with exaggerated white lined eyes and large painted white mouths.

PAGEBREAKLINEBREAKBREAKTHING

It wasn't long after dawn that Mai woke, groggy but conscious. She slowly stretched her good arm before shifting her weight to try to sit up. Before she had even moved much, there was a pair of hands shifting her weight for her and helping her sit up.

She yawned. "Morning, Naru."

He chuckled slightly. "Good Morning, Mai."

"I'd like to sit at the desk." Her voice was broken by another yawn. "I could use some tea to wake me and I know you could definitely use some."

"That should be a given by now."

"I swear tea is your blood."

"If tea were my blood, I would not be able to survive. You should know enough anatomy at least for that."

"I was joking, Naru." By then Naru was helping lower her into the desk chair from the night before and as he stood back up, he flicked the burner on to start warming.

"I'll fill the pot with water."

"Thanks, Naru." She chirped before yawning for the third time.

Several hours passed in almost absolute silence between the two, Lin arrived right before seven and the silence continued minus the sounds of tea being drank. Nearly an hour after Lin arrived, the others began piling in.

"Did anything happen while we slept?" John asked softly as he rubbed his eyes.

"It seems some of the temperatures fluxed again. Maddie's room and living room." Lin commented.

"Nothing else?" Ayako asked, frustrated. "Maybe it's an earth bound spirit mad that the trees were destroyed to build the cul-de-sac." Nearly everyone groaned at Ayako's repeated theory.

Before an argument could pick up between Monk and Ayako everyone heard the bell at the front door ring. They were all silent as they heard steps go down the hall and the stairs. Monk stepped over and opened the door to base and they could all hear the echoes of Mrs. Bowen's voice greet their visitor. It wasn't long before Monk's curious face fell to a look of reluctant understanding before he was barreled into by another young man.

"Monk, my love, how I have missed you!" Monk was scrabbling to get hold of the arms wrapped around him to pry off.

"Nonono Yasuhara." Monk's whine made Mai fall into small giggles.

Yasu's head snapped around to look at Mai and he saw a small smattering of bruises that had climbed their way up the right side of her neck. Faster than Monk expected Yasu had let go of him and sprinted to Mai's side. Monk proceeded to fall backwards into the floor from the lack of pulling force he had been fighting.

"Mai-chan what happened?!" His fingers came up to lightly trace the top of the bruise on her neck, to which she winced at. "Has big Boss been too rough with you? He should know by now that you are a sub in everything. I mean unless you're into the bondage stuff?" He gave Mai a skeptical once over as she flushed darkly.

Naru coughed into his fist in a combination of slight embarrassment and agitation. "Yasuhara do you have any news?" He raised one brow before crossing his arms. "And do stop manhandling my assistant." Any sign of embarrassment had fled his face.

"I oh yeah yeah I have news!" He rushed back to the doorway where he had dropped his bags and a folder of papers on the floor.

In his rush to grab the papers and bags he bumped back into monk and proceeded to knock him into the floor again. He landed with a thud behind the couch at Ayako's feet, who proceeded to laugh at him loudly. As Yasu rushed back to the desk Mai sat at in a flurry Ayako continued to mock Monk about falling for the young researcher, _twice_.

"So with the research I did between staying with my family and visiting my aunt I found out quite a bit of stuff. It ends up before this subdivision was made it was bought from a group that owned a graveyard for westerners. It said that unless otherwise asked, all nonnatives were buried here, mainly Americans. Once the land was bought up, I read that they dug all the graves up and moved all the bodies to another location and then began to build."

"How many were buried here?" Masako asked before yanking the papers from Yasu's fingers and began flipping through them.

"A lot. It doesn't have a definitive count but from what I figure this house and the in development areas past here were the most heavily populated grave areas so they kept them for the last to do. I don't know if anyone else in the area has had issues yet. We could always go around and ask. I'm also unsure if anyone was properly informed about this area either. It took me a lot of time to finally find all the information on the graves."

Naru stepped forward and held a hand out to Masako for the papers in her hands. She let out a forced giggle and put her empty hand in his and stepped forward towards him. Her eyelashes fluttered as she looked up to him coyly.

"The papers, Miss Hara." He demanded, unflinchingly.

Her shoulders slumped slightly as she stepped away. She pouted lightly before handing the papers to the stoic young man. He nodded slightly to the medium before turning and stepping away from her and immediately stepping into Mai's personal space to spread out for her to read. After Mai reorganized them to her liking on the desk and she began to immerse herself in the material, he leaned his hip on the desk beside her, semi-protectively, he crossed his arms and faced the rest of the ragtag band in front of him.

"We will eat breakfast first and after everyone is done I want you four," He nodded to Masako, Monk, Yasu and Ayako. "To go around the neighborhood and question them on activity, residence, and history. While you are out there, Miss Hara, I want you to keep track of the spirit activity. I want to know if it picks up, slacks, or changes at all. After questioning everyone, you may then come have lunch. After lunch I want a full walkthrough of the development area."

"What about the rest of you?" Ayako snapped out. "I won't be doing all the work while you sit around."

"You won't be." Naru didn't elaborate. "Now breakfast so you can start your day."

He turned to help Mai up while the crew began headed out, headed by Ayako's angry grumbles. Lin hung back to wait on his charge and the hurting young woman. The three brought up the rear of the group and entered the dining room right as Mrs. Bowen flipped a pan of pancakes.

"Oh! Good Morning! I was about to send Griffin to fetch you all. Breakfast is nearly done so sit down and I'll bring the dishes in." Mrs. Bowen's voice was light and soft to the teams' ears.

"Would you like any help?" Mai asked, immediately heading towards the woman in the kitchen doorway.

A hand on her left shoulder stopped her. "Mai-chan you are still hurt. Let me help her." Johns soft voice reassured Mai before he pulled out a chair and helped her down into it then headed to the kitchen to help.

When John came back in with an arm load of plates of a variety of western and Japanese items, everyone had begun to sit. To everyone's amusement and Mai's discomfort, Griffin had sat himself down on her right. John smiled softly, hiding it quickly when Naru glanced at him from his seat to Mai's left.

It wasn't long before everyone was fully seated and plates began to be filled. Naru, knowing Mai's arm was more than likely aching something fierce, scooped several different easy to eat single handed items to her plate before serving himself. Her soft smile of thanks to him made the tenseness in his hands loosen slightly as he began to eat silently after saying the meal thank you.

Before much time had passed at all, Naru noticed Mai was continuously tensing up but not speaking up about anything, hardly speaking at all. He watched Mai closely out of the corner of his eye for several long moments before finally catching a movement and he realized why she had tensed up so much. After making sure that it would look like to the casual observer that he was eating oblivious to the action beside him, Naru focused a bit of his PK in one hand and made a quick pulling motion and Mai's chair slid nearly four inches closer to him.

Griffin's head immediately snapped to Naru, who continued to eat while watching the others talk. He narrowed his eyes at the other man before reaching under the young womans chair to pull her back towards him. With every tug he made, the chair stayed in place, like he had barely touched it. By the time he gave up, a fine sheen of sweat had beaded Naru's brow.

Once Griffin was pulled into a conversation with Yasu, Mai leaned over towards Naru to whisper to him. "You know I could have handled it on my own."

"Because you were handling it until I did something." Was his near snarled whispered response.

"What is with you, Naru? Don't be such a jerk."

"He was practically groping you in front of me. And his parents." The hand in his lap clenched tightly.

Mai sat her fork down gently before resting her hand on his lightly and squeezing it. "I was fine, Naru, because I know you wouldn't let me be in danger. Even though I know you're there to keep me safe, I have to try to fight my own battles. I know that, you know that. I just need to act on it better." His hand lost most of its tension when she rubbed her thumb across his knuckles. She smiled lightly when his shoulders lost their tension slightly and he turned back to his meal.

"Mai, you must try this. My mother makes the best bread pudding." Griffin commented a bit later, scooping a large slice of the bread pudding onto Mai's plate grabbed his fork to scoop up a bite and lifted it towards her mouth.

"Mai!" Masako nearly yelped, reaching across the table and accidently dragging her kimono sleeve through gravy as she haphazardly reached for the boys fork to smack it away from her.

Everyone looked at Masako in confusion as she swiftly slid the plate far from Mai too. She smiled apologetically at the family before sitting back down. After a vaguely awkward moment she began patting at her sleeve with a napkin and once it was to some sort of satisfied cleanliness she spoke up.

"Mai is allergic to bananas." Her eyes lifted to Griffin and gave him a dark look. "I may not like her less than intelligent quips but I dare say I don't want her killed."

Naru glanced down at Mai and saw she had paled slightly and without thinking about it he slid his hand out from under hers and rested it on top. She clenched her hand tightly around his pants legs, shaking slightly. He squeezed her hand lightly before speaking up.

"I think that is enough adventure for breakfast. I will be taking my leave and starting on the day. Will you be coming along Mai?" He made a point to ask the young woman with him.

"Y-yeah. Yeah I think I will. Thank you for breakfast, Mrs. Bowen." She let go of Naru's pants and stood fluidly before bowing to the woman and making a quick exit to the door.

Griffin stood to follow her before his father spoke up. "Griffin. Clear the table of dirty dishes. We will speak later."

Naru stood up before looking at the others. "I will see you four at lunch. Lin? John?" The two other men nodded and followed him out of the room and back to base quietly.

Once back in the room, John immediately made a bee line for Mai who stood in the corner furthest from the door clutching her sore shoulder. "Mai, are you alright?" He slowly reached forward to lightly place his hand on her other shoulder.

"Oh. John." She had jumped slightly and hissed through her teeth. "Sorry. It's been a long time since I was that close." She stared at the floor. "Usually I'm so diligent with keeping track of foods and things and it's just…" She trailed off and shrugged with her good shoulder.

"Come sit, Mai. We are all here to look out for you." John's voice was soft and comforting to the ragged nerves of the stiff girl. "It's okay. We will all keep a good eye out for you. We all have allergies and fears and we each are here to support all the others." He led her over to her desk and helped lower her into the chair before turning to Naru. "What would you like for me to do now, Naru?"

"I would like for you and Lin to go into Maddie's room while the family is out shopping and add a specialized heat sensor in her closet. It seems like one of the epicenters of the activity. I want it centered in the closet and on as soon as you have it set up."

Lin grabbed the sensor while john grabbed the power drill from the corner of the room. They headed out silently from base and immediately headed for Maddies room. The walkie Lin had on his hip buzzed to life as Mai spoke through it to make sure they worked properly. He swiftly acknowledged her before opening the closet doors.

"Would you like the honors, John?" Lin's voice was soft with a slight teasing lilt to it.

John just smiled and plugged the drill in, checked the tip was fitted in properly and stepped into the closet to begin making the hole. He began rapping on the wall lightly with his knuckles to find a solid spot to begin drilling. Once he found a spot near the center he lifted the drill, set it against the spot he found and began pulling the trigger with some pressure to get it going.

After a few seconds of drilling the drill bit went through the wall, a split second later the hole became larger and the whole drill fell through. John looked back at Lin who seemed just as confused as he was before sticking his arm in the hole to try to reach for the drill. He yelped suddenly when he felt something clutch his arm and yank him against the wall tightly.

As soon as Johns body hit the wall, the sound of the drill runninging sounded through the whole room and not three inches from the tip of Johns nose the bit spun through the wall before disappearing. The soft thud of the heat sensor hitting the floor was heard over the drill before Lin was leaping forward to grab Johns other arm to yank him back.

Both men's eyes widened as the drill bit reappeared not an inch and a half from Johns nose and stayed there spinning for a moment before disappearing into the wall again. As Lin licked his lips nervously they heard the drilling sound coming again and then he whistled sharply, still pulling on Johns arm. Suddenly the drill sound stopped and after a split second to blink both men stood in their previous spots, blinking at the wall, drill sitting at John's feet. Johns eyes went wide and he stepped away from the closet as scratching noises erupted throughout the closet.

"God be with me." He mumbled and did the motion of the cross on himself.

Immediately after John spoke the noise died off and the only sound in the room was the sound of their staggered breaths. Lin reached down with a slight shake to his hand and grabbed the walkie and brought it to his mouth. He took a faint breath to steady himself before speaking.

"Noll, did you catch that?" There was no noise as he used the walkie. "Noll?" He looked down at the walkie and found it completely dead. "Check the camera." He demanded of John as he began fiddling with the walkie.

"Lin?" John's voice was confused. "It's dead. Completely."

"We need to get back to base. Now." They turned and made their way out of the room and headed back to base.

Mai turned when she heard the door open and she frowned at the two men's strange looks. "Something happened, didn't it?" John nodded and she rolled her chair over to the monitors and began typing at the keys to pull up the camera all while Naru stepped up behind her, bracing his arms on the desk on either side of her.

She rewound it some before hitting play. In the footage, they all watched as John and Lin entered the room, John walk to the closet and knocked on the wall. The second John began to pull the trigger on the drill, the footage went black. Lin and John proceeded to tell them of what happened and about the walkie and camera dying.

Naru pulled himself into his thinking pose and began pacing slightly. Mai looked between her young boss pacing, to John's pale face and Lin's stoic face before deciding to speak up. She swallowed heavily then turned her chair to Naru.

"Naru, I'm thinking that _he_ was right." The response was a raised brow. "They're after Maddie and I. Maddie is an innocent and I have the light. I think the most activity will happen at night and whatever is going to happen I'm afraid Maddie will get involved either way."

"We will continue to collect data and once night falls, I want everyone to walk the building and yard to see if anything else is felt. Lin I want one Shiki on Maddie at all time." Lin nodded. "I also do not want you," He looked to Mai. "Alone at any point in time. We don't know what the spirits end goal is and we can't have them taking you. You are getting better readings than Masako right now and we can't afford you out of the game." Mai nodded.

After that it seemed everything in the house had settled down again. There were no strange noises, nothing out of place, a strange calmness seemed to eclipse everything. Mai kept a constant focus on the cameras and when Naru asked for tea it was Lin who kept a strict eye on the screens. Everything was eerily calm.

It was nearing two when Yasu called and told them that they were on their way back to the house to beat the approaching storm. He was tired from wandering the neighborhood with Ayako and monks constant bickering and Masako's sniping. It had been well over four hours that Yasu had been stuck with the other three and he was _so_ done with them. He ran a hand down his face as they entered the Bowen's yard before frowning.

It started with his phone first- a buzzing hissing static- then Ayako's, monks and Masako's seemed to start immediately after. Through the hissing static there was a three note tune that would fade through the static. All four of them looked between their phones and each other before Yasu began leading a cautious way towards the house with his phone held out in front of him.

He gulped when he walked through the side entrance to the garage and followed the tune until he was nearly center of the dimly lit room. All of a sudden, the tune static and hissing stopped on all their phones before a loud crackling noise echoed around the room. The floor around Yasu began cracking and a black sludge was oozing between the cracks at an alarming rate. Yasu yelped loudly as the other three began rushing for the stairs that lead to the house and Yasu glanced around and his eyes began to bug out when he saw a skeletal apparition in the corner moving towards him.

As he neared the stairs, he felt something grab his ankle and began trying to drag him into the sludge. "Monk!" Yasu yelped and began scrabbling for a hold on the tar covered floor. He felt a pair of strong hands grab his wrists and yank him forward and when he looked up, Monk was holding his arms and Ayako had her arms around his waist to help pull both men toward the door leading to the kitchen that Masako held open.

With a garbling slurping noise, Yasu was yanked free and the four tumbled into the kitchen and from her spot in the pile, Masako ungracefully kicked the door shut and they heard a wet slamming noise along with the groaning of wood where a wave of the tar had hit. The four of them laid gasping on the kitchen floor for a moment before scrambling up and rushed for base, Yasuhara somehow clean of the tar that had previously coated his lower body.

After Naru had received the call from Yasu he turned to Lin John and Mai. "Yasuhara and the others are on their way back. Lin, John I would like the two of you to have a look at Griffins room and seal the clown dolls. I would rather not deal with those."

The other two men nodded and headed out after Mai's call of caution. Lin and John walked silently through the halls and up the steps to Griffins upstairs bedroom. Everything seemed calm enough in the attic bedroom at first sight but with the building storm outside, both men seemed wary. John heaved a deep breath before heading in and going straight for the small door to the dumb waiter.

Lin stood behind him to make sure his back was covered while John slid the chair away from the door before quickly flinging it open. A relieved breath of air escaped him when he saw the closed box of dolls. When he reached for it, both men spun around quickly when both the skylight and front window shattered from the force of the willow in the front yard hitting it.

"The storm has hit quickly!" John shouted over the sound of howling wind.

"Yes, We mig-" Before Lin could finish speaking a limb came swinging in the sunlight window and slammed into his chest and knocked him back towards the open window.

His arms pinwheeled a moment and before he could even whistle for his shiki, a limb came in the window and grabbed him around the waist and yanked him outwards. He grabbed onto the ledge of the window and began to try to fight back against the tree. John went to go running to Lin's aid when he was tripped by something soft in the floor.

He went tumbling into the floor only to be met with the cold black eyes of several clown dolls laying strewn across the floor between the two men. He looked up over his shoulder at the dumb waiter and there the box lay on its side.

Flaps haphazardly torn open.

Johns eyes spun back to Lin when the man made a chocked shout before trying to scramble to his feet. Before he even got balanced there was something tugging- yanking- at his ankle and knocked him down again. There behind him lay an Auguste clown doll nearly half his height stretched out from below the bed with a maniacal grin splitting its malformed face. Its hands were clutching Johns ankle like a lifeline and as he watched its head turned askew- nearly upside down- and began a rough tugging of his leg, dragging him towards the darkness under the bed.

There was a choked off half whistle from behind him as Lin made an attempt to call his shiki but before he could fully summon them a branch had slammed him into the window frame and loosened his hold. "No, Lin!" John's shout was the last thing Lin heard before he was yanked from his precarious hold.

John's breath was a mere pant as he turned back to the crazed doll clinging to his ankle. He reached out behind himself and began scrabbling for something that could stop his movement or aid him in escaping. His hands ran across nothing but bare floor and rug.

With a quick breath, John slammed his left foot into the clowns head.

Once.

Twice.

Three times.

The head turned back around, twisting and bunching its costume and it seemed to John that the grinning teeth had become sharper. He gulped before slamming his foot into the things face again and hearing a satisfying crunch as the porcelain head began to crack along one check and eye. As he slammed his foot into the face again two dolls of much smaller proportion grabbed onto his wrists.

John began a prayer as he quickly lifted his hands and slammed the dolls together before slamming them into the floor, breaking their faces. A hissing steam erupted from the two smaller dolls he broke before he gave an almighty 'The Darkness has not overcome!' and with a final kick to the larger doll it crackled fully and shattered with a black smoke hissing angrily out of it. A pained gasp escaped his body as the smoke brushed across his leg but he scrambled out from his position nearly waist deep under the bed. He stumbled on his hurt ankle before running to the window.

"Lin!" The shout was as loud as he could go but heard no response nor could he see the man.

With a spin he was bolting for the door and limp ran as fast as he could back to base. He slammed the door open and nearly fell through. His breath was coming and going in short gasps as he was grabbed by Monk and steadied.

"Where is Lin?" Mai's innocent voice stopped all movement in the room.

"He was grabbed!" John's eyes were wide. "The tree out front! The tree grabbed him!"

John pushed away from monk as Naru stood up. "Then let's go."

Mai's hand on his forearm stopped Naru in his tracks. She kept her head down but mumbled a 'please be careful' before letting his arm go and turning back to the cameras. Naru stared at her a moment longer before pushing past the others and following John down the hall and heading for the front door.

The two men slammed through the front door one after another with Monk hot on their heels. There in the yard waving in the wind was the weeping willow and hanging upside down in the midst of the branches was an unconscious Lin, blood dripping down a scrape on his forehead. The three men on the ground slid to a halt in front of the tree.

John and Monk leapt into prayer as Naru began weaving his way through the dangling branches of the tree. After several tense moments of prayer, the limbs seemed to shake and Lins body dropped towards the ground. The only thing stopping him from a painful landing was Naru's use of PK and the younger man's body as he was roughly caught.

"Monk, help me get him inside." Naru's voice was sharp and worried.

It wasn't long before the two men were able to heave Lin's unconscious body inside while John held the doors. They lowered the tall man onto a couch and let Ayako take over. Mai stood by, one hand covering her mouth while the other sat in near useless in its sling. Naru stepped back from his friends body and stood next to Mai and subconsciously moved into her personal space to put a hand on her shoulder.

It wasn't very long before Ayako was declaring Lin fine after examining his head wound and some bruising before patching him up. John was sat down next to look at his poor ankle while he told the others what had happened. He winced when Ayako wrapped his leg but once she was done, thanked her for tending to him.

"Your ankle is going to be tender with the bruises and burn around the top of your foot and your forearm will be bruised for a while but as long as you don't do anything too reckless, you'll be fine."

It seemed after that, the house calmed down again to an eerie silence once again. Not long after Ayako had finished wrapping John's ankle they heard a car pull up outside. The Bowens were home. They all held still for a moment when the front door opened then moments later closed and the sound of four set of feet walking through the house calmly. After several tense moments, they heard the back door swing open and bang shut while some pans clanked in the kitchen and the stairs creaking and movement walking by their base door.

"Ms. Hara with me." Naru's voice was sharp as he dropped his hand from Mai's shoulder and headed for the door. " The rest of you keep an eye on the cameras."

Mai sighed softly before going back to her seat by the monitors and tracking Naru and Masako's movement to the kitchen. "Yasuhara," Ayako's voice broke through the silence. "Come let me look at your leg."

The young man nodded softly. Thankfully all Yasu had was a rough looking hand shaped bruise circling his ankle and a shaken mentality. After a few minutes, Monk offered to help both John and Yasu to their rooms to rest, both injured young men opting to skip the late lunch for a bit of down time.

It seemed, for now, that the house was satisfied with the destruction it had caused to the small group. Everything seemed to stay eerily silent the rest of the day leading on until night fall. John and Yasu met up with the group when dinner was announced. The two seemed in somewhat of better spirits as they ate the evening meal.

Once the team had reached base after eating, Naru began the story of the day to the rest before sitting on the couch between both Masako and Mai. Masako immediately latched onto Naru's arm with a soft 'so many spirits are here' while Mai kept an unfocused visage and stared off at a painting on the far wall. Everyone was speaking softly and running ideas across one another until Mai's head shot up.

She stood quickly and rushed to the papers left on her table and began one handedly riffling through them. After a few moments and a soft 'ah-ha' Mai sat and began scribbling on the margins of the page. Her focus was fully on the pages while everyone stared at her back.

"John?" Mai's voice was easily heard over the confused silence in the room.

"Yes'm?" His face was full of confusion.

"Can you come here?" She pulled out another chair and patted the seat for him to sit down to which the Aussie moved over beside her.

Before long, monk and Ayako had gotten into another near shouting match while Masako attempted to make Naru pay attention to her. John's shout of surprise, quieted everyone immediate. The grin on his face and Mai's triumphant look garnered the team's attention. He stood with the papers from Mai and walked them over to Naru.

"Mai and I may have figured out a big piece of this puzzle." He handed the pages to the raven. "Yasuhara actually gave us the clue we needed but with everything going on we overlooked it. Yes, it is a gravesite and all, but what we were ignoring was what type."

Naru smirked. "And with that specific type, we have been going about this in all the wrong ways."

Monk stared confused at the two men. "So, what did we not catch?" He looked awfully confused.

Naru turned to Monk. "What kind of people were buried here, Monk?"

"The dead kind?"

Mai snorted from her table and Naru gave monk a droll look. "It was a westerner graveyard. What is it that westerners believe in the most?"

"That they have the best government?"

"Christianity." John's voice was stiff. "These spirits are westerners. They only believe and fear God."

"Alright…?" Ayako questioned, still confused.

"Which means, this is a western haunting, Ayako." John looked her in the eye. "They do- or did not at the time- know about our religions and so they are only properly reacting to my prayers."

Everyone spoke for several hours after that of what they would do with the information and it seemed as their spirits rose the sky darkened for night and an oncoming storm. After they all decided it was best to wait until the next day to begin tests of whether Mai was right, everyone broke into smaller groups to head to bed.

Mai bade everyone good night before standing to follow Ayako and Masako to bed. Naru stopped her with a hand lightly touching her forearm. "Good job today, Mai." His voice was soft before he turned to go back to the monitors. Before long it was just Naru Monk and Lin, who had woken not long after dinner. The men watched as everyone headed to bed before settling in for a hopefully calm stormy night.


End file.
